National Academies Press: OpenBook
Page i
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Consideration of Environmental Factors in Transportation Systems Planning. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13864.
×
Page R1
Page ii
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Consideration of Environmental Factors in Transportation Systems Planning. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13864.
×
Page R2
Page iii
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Consideration of Environmental Factors in Transportation Systems Planning. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13864.
×
Page R3
Page iv
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Consideration of Environmental Factors in Transportation Systems Planning. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13864.
×
Page R4
Page v
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Consideration of Environmental Factors in Transportation Systems Planning. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13864.
×
Page R5
Page vi
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Consideration of Environmental Factors in Transportation Systems Planning. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13864.
×
Page R6
Page vii
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Consideration of Environmental Factors in Transportation Systems Planning. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13864.
×
Page R7

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

T R A N S P O R T A T I O N R E S E A R C H B O A R D WASHINGTON, D.C. 2005 www.TRB.org NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM NCHRP REPORT 541 Research Sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in Cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration SUBJECT AREAS Planning, Administration, and Environment • Public Transit • Freight Transportation Consideration of Environmental Factors in Transportation Systems Planning A. AMEKUDZI AND M. MEYER Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA

NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM Systematic, well-designed research provides the most effective approach to the solution of many problems facing highway administrators and engineers. Often, highway problems are of local interest and can best be studied by highway departments individually or in cooperation with their state universities and others. However, the accelerating growth of highway transportation develops increasingly complex problems of wide interest to highway authorities. These problems are best studied through a coordinated program of cooperative research. In recognition of these needs, the highway administrators of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials initiated in 1962 an objective national highway research program employing modern scientific techniques. This program is supported on a continuing basis by funds from participating member states of the Association and it receives the full cooperation and support of the Federal Highway Administration, United States Department of Transportation. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies was requested by the Association to administer the research program because of the Board’s recognized objectivity and understanding of modern research practices. The Board is uniquely suited for this purpose as it maintains an extensive committee structure from which authorities on any highway transportation subject may be drawn; it possesses avenues of communications and cooperation with federal, state and local governmental agencies, universities, and industry; its relationship to the National Research Council is an insurance of objectivity; it maintains a full-time research correlation staff of specialists in highway transportation matters to bring the findings of research directly to those who are in a position to use them. The program is developed on the basis of research needs identified by chief administrators of the highway and transportation departments and by committees of AASHTO. Each year, specific areas of research needs to be included in the program are proposed to the National Research Council and the Board by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Research projects to fulfill these needs are defined by the Board, and qualified research agencies are selected from those that have submitted proposals. Administration and surveillance of research contracts are the responsibilities of the National Research Council and the Transportation Research Board. The needs for highway research are many, and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program can make significant contributions to the solution of highway transportation problems of mutual concern to many responsible groups. The program, however, is intended to complement rather than to substitute for or duplicate other highway research programs. Note: The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, the National Research Council, the Federal Highway Administration, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and the individual states participating in the National Cooperative Highway Research Program do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the object of this report. Published reports of the NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM are available from: Transportation Research Board Business Office 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 and can be ordered through the Internet at: http://www.national-academies.org/trb/bookstore Printed in the United States of America NCHRP REPORT 541 Project 8-38 ISSN 0077-5614 ISBN 0-309-08839-9 Library of Congress Control Number 2005933248 © 2005 Transportation Research Board Price $24.00 NOTICE The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program conducted by the Transportation Research Board with the approval of the Governing Board of the National Research Council. Such approval reflects the Governing Board’s judgment that the program concerned is of national importance and appropriate with respect to both the purposes and resources of the National Research Council. The members of the technical committee selected to monitor this project and to review this report were chosen for recognized scholarly competence and with due consideration for the balance of disciplines appropriate to the project. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied are those of the research agency that performed the research, and, while they have been accepted as appropriate by the technical committee, they are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board, the National Research Council, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, or the Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. Each report is reviewed and accepted for publication by the technical committee according to procedures established and monitored by the Transportation Research Board Executive Committee and the Governing Board of the National Research Council.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished schol- ars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. On the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and techni- cal matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Acad- emy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achieve- ments of engineers. Dr. William A. Wulf is president of the National Academy of Engineering. The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, on its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Acad- emy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both the Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. William A. Wulf are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council. The Transportation Research Board is a division of the National Research Council, which serves the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. The Board’s mission is to promote innovation and progress in transportation through research. In an objective and interdisciplinary setting, the Board facilitates the sharing of information on transportation practice and policy by researchers and practitioners; stimulates research and offers research management services that promote technical excellence; provides expert advice on transportation policy and programs; and disseminates research results broadly and encourages their implementation. The Board’s varied activities annually engage more than 5,000 engineers, scientists, and other transportation researchers and practitioners from the public and private sectors and academia, all of whom contribute their expertise in the public interest. The program is supported by state transportation departments, federal agencies including the component administrations of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and other organizations and individuals interested in the development of transportation. www.TRB.org www.national-academies.org

COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAMS STAFF FOR NCHRP REPORT 541 ROBERT J. REILLY, Director, Cooperative Research Programs CRAWFORD F. JENCKS, Manager, NCHRP RONALD D. MCCREADY, Senior Program Officer EILEEN P. DELANEY, Director of Publications HILARY FREER, Senior Editor NCHRP PROJECT 8-38 Field of Transportation Planning—Area of Forecasting G. SCOTT RUTHERFORD, University of Washington (Chair) MARK D. AQUINO, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources HAROLD W. BARLEY, Metro Plan Orlando, Orlando, FL TOM BRIGHAM, HDR Alaska, Inc., Anchorage, AK WAYNE W. KOBER, Wayne W. Kober, Inc., Dillsburg, PA ANNETTE I. LIEBE, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality MELISSA A. NEELEY, Arcadis, Inc., Houston, TX BRIAN J. SMITH, California DOT DONALD G. WARD, Ames, IA JOHN HUMESTON, FHWA Liaison KIMBERLY FISHER, TRB Liaison

This report describes the transportation planning process and discusses where and how environmental factors can be addressed effectively at the state and metropolitan levels. This report should be especially useful to federal, state DOT, MPO, and local transportation planners, as well as other practitioners concerned with addressing envi- ronmental factors within transportation systems planning, priority programming, and project development planning leading to implementation. Transportation systems plans provide the basis for selecting and developing trans- portation projects. However, because of their long time frames and broad scopes, sys- tems plans often are developed without detailed consideration of how plan implemen- tation will affect the built and natural environment. This creates problems in that some important projects may be very difficult, if not impossible, to implement because of environmental consequences that could have been identified, considered, and possibly avoided much earlier in the planning process. Furthermore, insufficient consideration of environmental factors in transportation systems planning may cause decision mak- ers to miss opportunities to adopt plans that are fully consistent with statewide and regional environmental goals and to implement larger scale environmental mitigation and enhancements. Typically, environmental factors are more closely examined during project devel- opment and, in some cases, during corridor or subarea planning. Federal and state law and sound planning practice call for considering environmental factors within the development of transportation systems plans. However, few processes, procedures, or analysis methods are generally accepted for considering environmental factors in trans- portation systems planning. In addition to “fatal flaw” analyses, other environmental considerations are more appropriately addressed at the systems planning level. These include purpose and need determinations, areawide air- and water-quality impacts, ecosystem analysis, watershed evaluations, secondary and cumulative impacts, and social and community impacts. Although cost-effective, macro-scale analysis methods, such as GIS applications and air-quality modeling, could be used to develop and eval- uate systems plans, these and other methods are not applied widely in systems-level transportation planning. If elements of transportation systems plans are to proceed through project development to implementation, systems-level environmental consid- erations must be addressed earlier in planning. The objective of this research was to identify, develop, and describe a process, pro- cedures, and methods for integrating environmental factors in transportation systems planning and decision making at the statewide, regional, and metropolitan levels. The research focused on environmental issues within the long-range transportation planning processes of state DOTs and MPOs and included the following: (1) a com- prehensive review of recent literature; (2) a survey of approaches employed by DOTs, MPOs, and environmental regulatory agencies; (3) a review of federal regulations and FOREWORD By Ronald D. McCready Staff Officer Transportation Research Board

guidance on environmental factors; and (4) case studies to synthesize current practice in environmental planning. A planning process was developed that describes how and when various methods can best be applied in developing systems-level transportation plans. The process addresses decision-making relationships; technical requirements (e.g., data and analytical methods); necessary staffing capabilities; public involve- ment; interagency coordination; financial commitments; and methods for tying the systems planning considerations to more detailed processes such as corridor planning, subarea planning, modal development planning, priority programming, and project development. Under NCHRP Project 8-38, “Consideration of Environmental Factors in Trans- portation Systems Planning,” the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, reviewed current practice in dealing with environmental issues within the state and met- ropolitan transportation planning processes. The report describes procedures, methods, and institutional arrangements for successful consideration of environmental factors in transportation planning. The report also presents a broad framework for assessing, eval- uating, and integrating environmental issues and concerns into systems-level trans- portation planning and decision making. Detailed supplementary information on rele- vant regulations and guidance and the results of the project survey are presented in NCHRP Web-Only Document 77.

1 SUMMARY 8 CHAPTER 1 Introduction and Research Approach Introduction, 8 Research Objective and Approach, 8 Organization of the Report, 10 11 CHAPTER 2 Context and Current State of the Practice Introduction, 11 Literature Review, 11 Laws, Policies, and Regulations, 22 Survey of DOTs, MPOs, and State Environmental Resource Agencies, 24 Summary and Implications of Important Findings, 27 33 CHAPTER 3 Incorporating Environmental Concerns Into Transportation Planning and Project Development Introduction, 33 Conceptual Framework, 33 Case Studies, 36 Summary, 70 72 CHAPTER 4 Tools and Methods for Considering Environmental Factors Introduction, 72 Commonly Used Tools and Methods, 72 Summary of Literature and Case Studies, 87 Emerging Analysis and Data Collection Technologies, 88 Tools and Methods For Considering Environmental Factors, 91 93 CHAPTER 5 Incorporating Environmental Stewardship into Transportation Planning and Project Development Introduction, 93 Conceptual Framework Revisited, 93 Major Findings, 94 Institutional Strategies to Implement Change, 99 Future Research, 103 106 REFERENCES CONTENTS

Next: Summary »
Consideration of Environmental Factors in Transportation Systems Planning Get This Book
×
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 541: Consideration of Environmental Factors in Transportation Systems Planning examines processes, procedures, and methods for integrating environmental factors in transportation systems planning and decision making at the statewide, regional, and metropolitan levels. The appendixes to NCHRP Report 541 have been published as NCHRP Web-Only Document 77.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!